It's been a long while since I posted on this site. Every year, when the domain renewal comes up, I wonder whether or not to close it down. But I still have things to say! I think to myself.

I started with the intent of creating something unique, useful, and remarkable, a kind of Art of Manliness for boys. I had really such grand visions. But along the way, I found it hard to balance content creation with the actual, you know, raising of my own boys. We now live in a different state, bought a 100-year-old home, I've taken on new and exciting writing projects AND I'm homeschooling a few of my kids. It's like having three full-time jobs.

However, after this last school shooting, another school shooting, in which an angry, lonely boy killed 17 of his former peers, I felt this blog shouting at me. I still have things to say! I have so many things to say to the moms of boys. I write entire books in my head about this while I mate socks and referee sibling squabbles and sit in church and talk to my boys about their ideas, visions, hopes and concerns.

And I figure it's time to get those ideas down on paper. They might not come with impeccable editing or even photos anymore. To me, the words have always been the most important part. But I hope you'll stick around. I hope we can grow a community of parents willing to take action and raise the good boys. Our world needs them. Our country needs them.

People don’t whistle the way they used to, and it’s a mighty shame. Whistling has been around for centuries as a form of communication and entertainment. Shepherds used whistling to call their dogs. Before electronic communication, it was used on stage in theaters to cue the lowering of sets.

In the Canary Islands of Spain, an entire whistling language of more than 4,000 words, Silbo Gomero, has managed to survive. The island, segmented by deep ravines, traditionally used the language to communicate as far as two miles away, and is said to be as old as the Romans. Nearly wiped out by modern technologies, the language is still taught to young school children so as not to be lost. Other areas of Turkey, France, and Africa also use forms of whistling language.

Years ago I spent a summer in Russia, where I constantly got chastised for whistling indoors. It turns out that in many Slavic countries, people believe that whistling indoors will cause your money to fly out the window (“whistling away your money.”) Superstitions against whistling also exists in the UK, where the spirits of “Seven Whistlers” foretell death.

Americans, however, have a more celebratory approach to whistling. Think of any ballgame or sporting event, where whistling is used as applause. Wild West cowboys whistled to their horses and dogs. Early vaudeville shows featured professional whistlers, and whistling has long been a hallmark of recorded music, featured in everything from Paul Simon’s Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard and One Republic’s Good Life, to my personal favorite, the Scorpion’s fantastic Cold War-era song, Winds of Change.

Whistling is the consummate boy pasttime, immortalized by Opie in the opening credits to the Andy Griffith Show, walking down the road with his dad, fishing pole in one hand, skipping stone in the other. Every good ole American boy needs a dog at his heels and a whistle on his lips.

I was reminded of this the other day when my six-year-old son pulled me aside to show me his latest whistling trick. He’s learned to warble his whistle to mimic a bird call. It sounds just like a porcelain bird whistle my husband brought back from Spain a decade ago.

Whistling used to be a right of passage, something you learned as soon as those two adult front teeth came popping through the gums. It was the language of street games and the music of laborers. Perhaps now because of earbuds and the ubiquity of recorded music, whistling seems to have fallen silent.

I polled my own boys to discover their whistling acumen and was astonished that not all of them know how to whistle! I can’t believe I’ve failed thus far as a parent. How are we going to round up the wild ponies, or move to the Canary Islands, or recreate Opie’s childhood if every single one of my boys doesn’t know how to whistle? It looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Is whistling a part of your son's childhood? Here are some ideas to bring back the lost art of whistling:

•Have a family whistling competition. See who can whistle the longest, the loudest.

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. All daring and courage, all iron endurance of misfortune make for a finer, nobler type of manhood.”

—Teddy Roosevelt

Chances are your kids, like mine, have a pretty cushy life. And that’s great! Kids need stability and consistency and safety.

But researchers have found that there is a delicate balance between kids needing consistency, safety, AND challenge. We all know that parents these days tend to coddle their kids more, protect them from potential harm, and swoop in to fix their mistakes.

None of this is helpful in building resilient boys.

The word resilient comes from the Latin root resili, which means to spring back. Resilience is the power or ability to return to the original form. When a child falls, he climbs back on his feet and toddles another step. When he shoots a basketball and misses, he dribbles and shoots again.

While physical resilience is important (none of us would have learned to walk otherwise!) it’s emotional resilience that we want to strengthen in our sons, so they can spring back from the rollercoaster of emotions they’ll be sure to face in life, including pain, sorrow, loneliness, anger, and frustration.

The thing is, physical resilience and emotional resilience are very much linked. By overcoming physical challenges, kids learn what they are capable of. Not only do they build physical muscle, their emotional resilience grows as well. That’s why the military relies so heavily on physical challenges to build its leaders.

Earlier this year I interviewed a man named Ray Zahab for a news story I was writing. Zahab was a pack-a-day smoker in his late 20s when he realized one day that he was killing himself with his bad habits. He got off the couch and started running, first a 5K, then a 10K, then a marathon. Soon he was doing adventure races in extreme locations like the Saraha Desert. It was after his desert run that he realized two things: (1)People were capable of incredible things. (2)He wished he could have known at 16 or 17 what he knew now in his middle age.

With that in mind, he founded Impossible 2 Possible (i2P), where he enlists young people for his extreme education programs in places like Peru, India, and the deserts of Southern Utah. With each adventure, a team of carefully selected researchers/runners set off on an expedition where they run 26 miles per day while gathering educational data along the way.

After my interview with Zahab, I thought over and over about his epiphany, that he wished he had known at 16 what he was capable of. It made we wonder how I could introduce challenges into the lives of my kids, impossible adventures that would push them and as a result, build their emotional resilience while they are still young.

We started right away, linking our summer plans with our first impossible adventure: as part of a month-long road trip, we would attempt to summit Mt. Timpanogos, one of the most scenic and popular mountains in Utah. As lead-up, we would do a series of hikes and adventures in the national parks in Southern Utah and California.

We learned some good things along the way:

1. Think of something age-appropriate, but don't be afraid to push. When planning our adventures, we tried to think of our kids’ ages. For the big mountain climb, we didn’t take our six year old. However, he did hike Delicate Arch in Arches, the Narrows in Zion, and several hikes in the surrounding national parks.

Our other boys, ages 10, 11, and 13, were on the young side for such a grueling hike up Mt. Timpanogos, but I wanted to push them just a little (okay, so maybe a lot) beyond their comfort zone. After all, it was supposed to be an impossible adventure.

2. Plan, both mentally and physically. We told our kids months in advance about the big mountain climb. We live on the flat pancake of the Midwest, so my boys don’t have much experience hiking. But we had them jog on the paths around our home and go on long bike rides. As a family, we did pushups, situps, and planks. Every time we gave them a physical challenge, we told them: “This will get you ready for the mountain.”

I also tried to prep them mentally. I knew the mountain well, having climbed it several times in college. I told them that climbing Mt. Timpanogos would be the hardest thing they had ever done. I told them that hiking down was way worse than ascending, and that they would want to quit, but I knew they could do it.

3. Enlist a team. This was probably the smartest thing we did. For our smaller hikes, it was just our family. But fortunately the big mountain climb was part of our extended family reunion, which meant it wasn’t just us climbing, but my dad, brother, and two of my sisters. Our boys are at the age where they are beginning to seek outside mentors, so having a big group encouraging them along the way made all the difference. In fact, it made THE difference. I don't think my boys would have gone more than a few miles if the team hadn’t rallied to help them along.

So gather a group of family or friends willing to have an adventure.

4. Give them an out. Everyone wants to make it to the summit. However, a smart climber knows that it’s more important to trust his body, the weather, and other factors. I knew we were pushing our boys just to get them up the mountain. I told them to go as far as they could, and we would be with them every step of the way.

Be aware of how far you push your kids. You want to set them up for success, which is the whole point. Whatever they end up doing, make it feel like an accomplishment.

5. Give a reward. Accomplishment is its own reward, so don’t overshadow that with promises for tickets to Disneyland or a miniature horse. But hopes of a milkshake at the end of the trail, or a ten-minute footrub, or a favorite movie might just help propel your kids along. My boys requested bubble tea (of all things!), so rounds of bubble tea it was when we got home.

6. Build up to the big one. We didn’t plan this, but the way our trip was scheduled, each smaller hike prepped us for the great big one. We battled oppressive heat in Arches, Zion, and Yosemite, and hiking fatigue by the time we got to the Redwoods. But each hike helped increase our boys’ hiking stamina and their own inner confidence at going long distances.

The result:

Our goal, at least with the kids, was Emerald Lake, which sits in an alpine meadow at mile 6 of the Mt. Timpanogos trail, one mile below the summit. I honestly didn’t know if the boys would make it to that point. After all, they had never hiked six miles up a mountain! But to our surprise they pushed themselves to the lake. And a few would have kept going if we had let them.

As predicted, the hike down was long and brutal. We had to rally many times to get the boys to the car. All told, we hiked twelve miles in eleven hours. Even the 10-year-old.

The experience was more grueling than I had expected, which meant the reward of completion was better than I could have hoped for. My boys, with their wide ranges of personality and athleticism, amazed me with their stamina. While I taped up my own blisters for three days, none of them were even sore the next day. And they still talk about the experience all the time—it's something they're proud of.

So what kind of impossible adventures can you do? I read a recent article about parents who did a GoRuck challenge (extreme team building) and were inspired to provide similar challenges for their kids. In that vein, nighttime scavenger hunts, long bike rides, remote camping, winter camping, training for a race or triathlon (and not just the 1K), could all become resiliency experiences for the entire family.

That’s what our impossible adventure became: a shared experience that we will never, ever forget.

In that vein, we can’t wait for the next impossible adventure. We’ll keep you posted!

We don’t need more stats to tell us that vegetables are a crucial part of a boy’s diet. They’re full of fiber, antioxidants, and pretty much every awesome vitamin and mineral a growing kid needs.

But getting your son to eat a plate full of salad or sauteed beet greens may be another matter. None of us intend to raise a picky eater, but sometimes it’s easier to cave to complaints than have a daily battle over the dinner plate.

I grew up with a dad who pushed sleep like an Avon lady pushes lipstick. Sleep was sacred, and you didn't mess with the bedtime routine. Dad was a big fan of sleeping early and sleeping often. Every day he came home from work and took what he called his afternoon schnooze. He prescribed more sleep for pretty much every ailment.

It turns out, like in so many things, Dad was right. Quality sleep is essential for everyone, but especially for our growing sons.

Our air popper died on us several weeks ago, and we've been missing this staple snack around our house. So this week we pulled out the Dutch oven and tried our hand at popping popcorn like our intrepid pioneer ancestors.

Next to bannock, this is probably the easiest thing you'll ever cook over a fire. All you need is a Dutch oven, cooking oil, and a good-quality popping corn, plus a hot, hot fire. We cooked ours over a log fire, but briquets work as well and may provide a more even cooking experience.

Start by pouring about 1/4 to 1/3 cups oil in your Dutch oven. We used coconut oil, but you could also use vegetable, grapeseed, or canola as well. (Olive oil doesn't do as well at such high temperatures.) Coat the bottom and sides with oil and set the Dutch oven over the hot fire to warm for a while, anywhere from 10-15 minutes. You can drop a few test kernels in and wait for them to pop before pouring in the rest of the corn, about 3/4 cup. Or, if you're impatient like us, dump in the whole lot from the beginning.

Then you just wait. You can check periodically, but chances are you'll start hearing the corn popping after a little while. Once it starts popping, rotate the Dutch oven a quarter turn about every minute or so to keep the heat even, and to prevent burning. Check periodically to make sure the popcorn isn't scorching. When the popping begins to slow, pull the Dutch oven off the fire and transfer to popcorn to a stainless steel bowl. The popped corn will be super hot, so I wouldn't recommend a plastic bowl.

Season with salt, butter, or whatever else you like to put on popcorn. Then prepare for a treat, because this doesn't taste like any popcorn you've ever eaten. It has an earthy, nutty taste that will keep the entire family coming back for more.

The great thing about Dutch oven popcorn is that it can be done over a stovetop as well. So if you don't have access to a firepit or want to cook up a batch during the winter, it can easily be transferred inside. Dutch oven popcorn all year long—that's something your boys will appreciate.

Long John Silver was a scoundrel, but he had one thing right: there’s nothing like a good old treasure hunt.

If your son hasn't tried geocaching, summer is a great time to start. It’s easy, inexpensive, requires minimal equipment, and gets boys moving and thinking. If your family is new to geocaching, here’s what you needs to know:

In simple terms, geocaching is using a GPS device to find designated hidden caches. With millions of caches worldwide, chances are you have a geocache in your area, and probably even in your neighborhood. And chances are you’ve walked by it a million times without even knowing it.

Geocaching sprang to life in early May of 2000. The day after selective availability of GPS was removed, a man named David Ulmer decided to hide a container in the woods near Portland, Oregon and post the coordinates on a GPS users’ group. He filled the bucket with various books and videos, a pencil and a log book. He made one rule: “Take some stuff, leave some stuff.”

The idea took off, spawning groups and events all related to GPS treasure hunting. With the ubiquity of smartphones and geocaching-specific apps, the sport of geocaching has never more accessible.

Geocaching.com, the original home of geocaching, provides the largest access to caches worldwide. The intro app, which can be downloaded on a smartphone, is free. The upgraded app costs about ten bucks. You have to register a username, which will be used to log your finds. Other sites include Navicache.com and Todayscacher.com.

Once you have the app and are familiar with the rules, it’s time to hunt. Enter your zip code and look to see what caches might be hidden in your area. We found a half dozen geocache sites just within walking or biking distance of our home.

The search can be trickier than you think, since every GPS has a margin of error. The map will lead you to the general area, but you will have to do a good deal of hunting around. Geocaches can be almost everywhere: up trees, underwater, or, like the one pictured above, stuck with magnets under bridges or metal grates. And they can vary in size, from shoebox size down to smaller than a film canister. They are usually swathed in camouflage tape or spray painted to blend into the surrounding environment.

The app provides information about the size of the cache, and rates the sites according to terrain and difficulty. (I recommend starting with Easy.) The app also includes comments and clues from previous geocachers. Many of the geocaches have been around a long time. We discovered a geocache that had been placed seven years to the day from when we found it.

Once you’ve found a geocache, it’s time to discover what’s inside. Every geocache contains a logbook where you record a username and the date you found the cache. You can also update your find on the app and leave your own comments (without spoiling the fun for other geocachers.)

Besides a logbook and pencil, most geocaches contain inexpensive trinkets. We’ve found playing cards, plastic bugs, finger puppets, and even expired hotel key cards.The greatest find is a Trackable, essentially a geocaching gamepiece that can be logged and tracked as it moves from one cache to the next.

The rule with the geocaches is still the same: take one, leave one. If you plan to take something from the cache, plan on bringing along a few trinkets. We’ve left stamps, miniature crayons, and matchbox cars.

A few things to note: Read all the rules at Geocaching.com before you venture out. Also, pay attention to the specific instructions for each geocache site to ensure you’re not tromping on private land or disturbing a delicate environment. And of course, use common sense to avoid injury.

While there are plenty of urban caches (New York City is filled with them), geocaching is great because it gets kids moving, often out in nature or in historic places. In addition, geocaching can be physically demanding and requires a degree of skill and problem solving—all good things for growing boys. The hobby is entirely portable—you can geocache on family vacations (there's a geocache in Antarctica!) or on outings around town. Our local Target has a geocache right in the parking lot. It can be done as a family or with a group of friends, and encourages exploration beyond the normal confines of the backyard.

Mostly, it’s just plain fun to be a part of a global treasure hunt. It beats having to fend off any one-legged scallywag pirates with a penchant for mutiny. Although I'm sure that has it's own degree of excitement.

You know you’ve succeeded when your son comes to you this summer and says, “I’m bored.”

Time to celebrate.

Also, time to resist handing him the TV remote, iPad, or your phone.

Because boredom, like that green smoothie you guzzle in the morning, is chock-full of benefits for kids (and adults).

In the 1950s, cognitive psychologist Jerome L. Singer set out to research, of all things, daydreaming. While other researchers were pigeonholing mind-wandering into the area of psychopathology, Singer had a theory that not only was daydreaming a part of normal, everyday life, positive constructive daydreaming had all sorts of benefits.

The results of his exhaustive study through the decades proved him right.

Singer found that “daydreaming, imagination and fantasy are essential elements of a healthy, satisfying mental life.” In young children, it increased their waiting ability. It also enhanced their social skills and storytelling.

He wrote that positive constructive daydreaming “was associated with Openness to Experience, reflecting curiosity, sensitivity, and exploration of ideas, feelings, and sensations.”

That right there sounds like the description of a well-rounded child.

The great scholars and poets and writers of earlier eras spent a lot of time thinking in quiet places: we all have images of Henry David Thoreau traipsing through the woods and marshes around Walden Pond; of Leo Tolstoy walking the fields of Yasnaya Polyana, his family estate; of Mark Twain, exploring the riverbank and caves that would give birth to his best stories.

In an era of hyper-productivity, it can be hard to watch our boys “wasting time” by spacing out, rolling on the floor, wandering the house, or coming to us like a limp rag, asking to once again play Minecraft.

Yet these are the best opportunities to invite our boys outside with an invitation to do...nothing. What may look like a waste of time, is, according to modern day research, as important to mental health as a good night's rest. When boys have downtime, without a screen in front of them, they’re able to explore their own mind, one of the few final frontiers where they still have free reign. It allows time for reflection, fantasizing, and story building.

Professor Daniel T. Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, wrote in the New York Times about our brain’s two kinds of attention: inward and outward. Fiddling with the TV or playing a video game are both examples of outward attention. They’re not intrinsically bad. The problem is you can’t simultaneously engage both inward and outward attention. As long as our boys are outwardly engaged, they are being robbed of inward attention, the kind that leads to reflection, projection, and processing of the world around them.

Like pretty much anything else in parenting, we can start by setting the example: stashing away that phone and going for a walk, putting out a blanket in the backyard to stare at the stars, searching for four-leaf clovers in a nearby field.

In James Thurber’s short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” the title character engages in multiple daydreams throughout his day. He constantly zones out of the real world to indulge in fantasies of heroism and bravery. Yet he never steps outside his own head.

When we see our kids zoning out, we all worry we might have this kind of Walter Mitty on our hands, the kind who withdraws because he can't keep paces with the rest of the world. So we build up the productivity, through math tutoring, karate lessons, swim team, art classes, and a healthy dose of educational programming.

To me, the movie version of “Walter Mitty,” released a few years ago, gives a more promising vision of the daydream believer. In this version, Walter Mitty still concocts epic fantasies in his head. This time, however, he takes that physical leap into the unknown and sets the ball rolling for a grand adventure.

We all hope for boys like the second Walter Mitty, the ones who act upon their dreams. But first we have to allow for the space and quiet, that yawning chasm of time, to roll on the grass, stare at the trees, watch paint dry, to get good and righteously bored.

I’ve declared every Friday in the summer Firepit Friday! My boys, who love any excuse to build a fire, are happy to comply.

We’re starting with one of the easiest things to make over an open fire: bannock bread. The word bannock is of English/Scottish origin, and comes from the Latin word for baked dough. Traditional Scottish bread is round and flat. Cut up pizza-like, it is referred to as a scone.

Bannock bread in the United States is a little different. It originated with the Native Americans, and is interchangeable with frybread. It was a staple diet of frontiersman and offered a welcome relief from hardtack. It can be fried up in a pan with a little oil, but the best and easiest way for a boy to cook it is over an open fire.

All the ingredients can be mixed in a single bowl or even a Ziploc bag. If you’re camping, the dry ingredients can be combined ahead of time, with the fat and oil added just before cooking.

There are several variations on this recipe. The key is to have a leavening agent such as baking powder or sourdough starter, combined with some sort of fat: butter, oil, or lard. The amount of water added will vary according to the climate and humidity.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add in the oil or butter and mix until crumbly. Little by little, add the water and stir until dough is thick and evenly pliable, but not too sticky. Some recipes recommend letting the dough sit and rise for a bit, but if you’ve got hungry campers, you’ll be fine diving right into the cooking.

Bannock cooks best over hot, hot coals. Once they start to cool the bread won’t cook. We found wrapping the dough around a sharpened stick to be the most effective. It also worked well on a two-pronged roaster where the prongs were close together so the dough couldn’t slide off.

Cooking bannock just right takes a little skill and a healthy dose of patience. Cook it too fast and you end up with a doughy center. If the dough is too moist, it sags and slides off the stick. It may take a few times to get the technique right, but that's part of the fun.

Because of the salty taste of the baking powder, bannock pairs well with a sweet topping like honey or jam. We dipped ours in melted butter and cinnamon/sugar. And then went back for seconds and thirds.

With 1,093 patents to his name, Thomas Edison is considered one of America’s greatest inventors. But long before he became known as the Wizard of Menlo Park, he was a young, industrious boy with insatiable curiosity.

Your son doesn’t have to reinvent the lightbulb to take a page from Edison’s life and learn to think like a world-class inventor.

1. Daydream and ask questions

Edison attended a small private school where the teacher complained of his daydreaming and unending questions. So his mother, a former school teacher, pulled him out of school and decided to educate him herself.

From his mother Edison learned to love reading. In fact, he said, “My mother taught me to read good books quickly and correctly, and … this opened up a great world of literature.” She gave him books on chemistry and philosophy and turned his learning into a game. She said, "There is so much of interest in the world, there will never be a minute for things to be dull."

2. Tinker

From his father, Edison inherited an entrepreneurial spirit and love of tinkering. Edison’s father once built a 100-foot tower and charged 25 cents for the opportunity to see the world from a bird’s-eye view.

Young Edison was constantly tinkering. He sat on chicken eggs in the barn to see if they would hatch. He and a friend set up a laboratory in the cellar to experiment with acids and chemicals. He even had his friend drink a glass full of chemicals to see if he would rise like a balloon. (He didn’t.)

As was typical of the time period, by the age of twelve Edison had finished his formal schooling and went in search of a job to help his family make ends meet. He became a railroad “news butch,” basically an independent contractor hired to sell newspapers, candy, and cigars to commuters.

He converted a corner of one of the baggage cars into a portable laboratory and once again began tinkering with chemicals. This came to an end when a bottle of phosphorus broke open and set fire to the rail car. However, this mishap didn’t set him back. Edison moved on to creating his own newspaper. Using scavenged printing supplies, he wrote and printed his own newspaper, The Grand Trunk Herald. With a friend, he started another paper, Paul’s Pry, filled with local gossip and newsy tidbits.

Later, as a telegraph operator, he spent every spare moment (and even moments on the job) trying to improve the telegraph machine.

3. Never stop learning

Edison worked long days as a news butch, riding the train each morning to Detroit, and then riding the train home again in the evening. While waiting for the return train in Detroit, he would go to the library and read a whole shelf of books, systematically from bottom to top.

Later, as a telegraph operator, Edison poured his time and money into books and supplies. While other operators spent their free time and loose change on drinking and girls, Edison read novels and spent late nights at the office, running experiments and improving his telegraph skills.

4. Be in the right place at the right time

While riding trains, Edison met a number of the telegraph operators stationed along the rail lines between Port Huron and Detroit. Telegraph was the fastest mode of communication in those days, and it fascinated Edison. He began spending more time with James MacKenzie, a telegraph operator and family friend.

One day while hanging out at the station, Edison saw MacKenzie’s young son playing on the railroad tracks. With a train approaching, Edison rushed to grab the boy and rolled him off the tracks just as the train thundered past. MacKenzie was so grateful to Edison, he offered to teach him how to be a telegraph operator. This first job opened Edison to his newfound career.

5. Embrace shortcomings

Because of a bout with scarlet fever as a child, and a few incidents with train conductors who slapped or pulled at his ears, Edison’s hearing grew steadily worse with age. He did mind though, saying it helped him concentrate. He was able to tune out the surrounding noise and focus on his inventions in the midst of a bustling research lab.

6. Try everything

When an investor came to look at Edison’s laboratory, he complained that Edison was wasting his time on too many pointless experiments. Edison dabbled in all sorts of things, including inventing a mechanical doll for his daughter that actually sawed wood. He insisted that nothing he did was a waste of time, that each experiment made him learn, and that with his new knowledge he could learn for the next time. He said, "Discovery is not invention, and I dislike to see the two words confounded. A discovery is more or less in the nature of an accident." When he unveiled the phonograph, it shocked the world. Nothing of that sort had even been thought up until Edison made it happen.

7. Think hard, work harder

Edison is famous for saying, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine-percent perspiration.” As a train butch, he worked 14-hour days. When he switched to telegraph operator, he put in 18-hour days in order to become a top operator. Later, as a full-time inventor, he put in famously long hours trying to get his experiments just right. He once said to a friend, “I have got so much to do and life is so short, I am going to hustle.”

8. Learn from failure

Edison’s first patent was an electric vote-recording machine. He was thrilled to unveil his invention to Congress. To his surprise, no one was interested in improving the efficiency of the voting process. Edison determined that from then on he would only invent things that people wanted. He went on to invent an improved telegraph, an electric storage battery, a stock ticker, the phonograph, and motion picture cameras, among other things.

At one point, a friend heard about an idea Edison had tried to perfect 10,000 times. When he expressed sympathy about Edison’s failure, Edison replied, “I have 10,000 ideas that won’t work, but I have not failed.”

Edison worked up until his death at the age of 84, filling his last patent just eight months before he died. As a final tribute to his life, lights all over the United States were dimmed. Even the torch on the Statue of Liberty was momentarily extinguished and all subways in New York City were halted.

If your son is interested in learning more about Thomas Edison, there are a dozen great biographies written for kids. As mentioned in my earlier post about 5 Museums to Capture the Imagination, Greenfield Village in Michigan contains Edison's actual Menlo Park laboratory and is a remarkable thing to explore. You can even see original pages of his invention notes, written in his own impeccable handwriting.

Man vs. nature makes for some of the best all-time reading material. Drop a boy into the woods with only his hatchet. Leave a girl to fend for herself on a fish-shaped island. These stories of grit and survival are some of summer's classic best reads, whether on a long car ride or by flashlight in the backyard tent. Wherever they're read, they will hopefully inspire boys to strike out on some adventures of their own.

This classic story follows the adventure of Buck, a St. Bernard/Scotch shepherd mix who gets kidnapped and taken as a sled dog to the Yukon during the Klondike gold rush. Accustomed to a pampered life, Buck must face the savage dogs and brutal conditions of the north. As he changes hands from one owner to another, he learns to not only survive, but grow into a dog worthy of his ancestors.

When the ship with her entire tribe abandons her, the young girl Karana must learn to survive on her own. From building a home of whale ribs and burning out her own canoe to befriending the wild dog who killed her brother, the story of Karana’s solitary years is unforgettable. We especially like the audio version, narrated by Tantoo Cardinal.

Perhaps one of the most beloved survival books of all time, "My Side of the Mountain" tells of Sam Gribley, who runs away from his crowded New York City apartment to his grandfather’s abandoned land in the Catskill Mountains, There, he lives in a tree, makes pancakes out of acorn flour, and trains a beloved falcon, Frightful. While the audio book is excellent, the paperback version includes illustration details of Sam’s fishing hooks, animal traps, and wild-plant diet.

Louis Zamperini is a trouble maker turned Olympic runner whose dream of breaking the 4-minute mile is shattered by the arrival of WWII. Drafted into the air force, Louis' plane is shot down over the Pacific Ocean, where he survives 47 days at sea only to be captured as a POW in Japan. This true story of suffering and forgiveness is an unforgettable page turner. The young adult version leaves out some of the harsher details of the original, contains simplified language, and is shortened by about a third.

Brian Robeson is on a flight to visit his father in northern Canada when the pilot suffers a massive heart attack. Forced to crash-land the plane, Brian escapes with nothing but the new hatchet his mother gave him as a parting gift. Using his one tool of survival, Brian must learn to fend for himself against an unforgiving landscape.

Teenager Alec Ramsay nearly drowns on a sea voyage after visiting his uncle in India. Saved by a wild Arabian horse which he calls the Black, the two are stranded on a desert island where they must learn to trust one another. When Alec returns home to New York with his horse, he pairs up with a retired horse breeder to train the Black for the race of the century. The audio book version of this classic 1940s story is good as well.

When her father dies, Julie, an 13-year-old Eskimo girl, is sent to live with her aunt, who weds her to a feeble-minded boy in San Francisco. Unable to bear such a life, she runs away to the Alaskan tundra, where she must fend for herself by hunting, trapping, and making her own clothing. Utterly alone in the wilderness, she learns to communicate with a wolf pack, and develops a special bond with a young wolf pup named Kapu.

This story, written in the early 1800s by a Swiss pastor, was immortalized by Walt Disney’s classic 1960 film. The book follows a family shipwrecked on an island, which they quickly dub “New Switzerland.” The mother, father, and four boys soon learn to live off the land, hunting game and building the treehouse of every child’s dreams. The original story was written by Wyss for his four sons and is meant to be a lesson in morality, nature, and self-reliance. Because of this, it gets didactic at times, but still makes for a good read, especially when paired with the movie.

Twelve-year-old Matt is left alone to maintain his family’s Maine homestead while his father travels back to Massachusets for his wife and daughter. Left alone, Matt must defend his property from fire, wild animals, and the uncertain Native Americans who live in the woods. This is coming-of-age story about friendship and the doing away with prejudice.

***A note on editions: Some of the more dated books, like "The Call of the Wild" and "The Swiss Family Robinson," contain verbiage that can be hard for young readers. Like I mentioned in my post How to Raise a Reader, we like to start with the Illustrated Classics as an intro to the story. They also make good out-loud reading for younger boys. In addition, a good audio version can really bring these stories to life.

While laundry has traditionally been a woman's job, times are a'changin'. Every boy should know how to do laundry and wash his own clothes well before he heads off to college. Any boy who can maneuver his way around an iPad should easily be able to take care of his weekly laundry.

The age of eight is a great time for a boy to start washing their own clothes. Before that, he can help with the sorting and putting away, but by eight he should be able to tackle the multi-step directions of washing his clothes. Assign your son a specific laundry day so there isn't a backlog at the washing machine.

Teach him how to sort lights from darks before washing. Show him the different temperature gauges and teach them how to pre-treat stains with a stain-stick. Remind him to empty his pockets and turn all clothes right-side out (except jeans, which should be washed inside out to avoid fading.) Show him where the fill line is on the washing machine so he doesn't overstuff the washer.

Be explicit. I'm always surprised when I find church ties, belts, and suits in the dirty clothes basket. Clearly I haven't identified the difference between washables and non-washables. I also find it's important to be specific when it comes to what constitutes dirty: stains and smells. Wearing a pair of pants for five minutes does not count.

Of course, the washing and drying of clothes is the easy part. It's the putting away that takes the most time, and is frankly the most tedious. Teach your son how to properly hang up a pair of pants, and fold a shirt so it doesn't get wrinkled. Label his chest of drawers if it makes it easier for him to put things away.

Recently, we've started clipping dirty socks together with clothes pins before throwing them in the laundry basket. This makes sorting so much easier, especially when you're dealing with multiple sock sizes.

It is easier for boys to manage laundry if they have fewer clothes in their closet. Most of us, frankly, have too many clothes, and for boys dealing with stuffed drawers and closets, this can be overwhelming. If your sons are like mine, they really only rotate through their favorite three or four shirts, leaving the others to languish on the hangers. Consider emptying your son's closets by half. If you don't want to get rid of all those lovely clothes, rotate them through as the favorites get worn out. If you live in a place with distinct seasons, switching out the warm or cold weather clothes can help with this problem too.

Like any skill, this one might take a while, and you may have a few mishaps along the way, but it will be well worth it. And just think: once your son masters the art of weekly laundering, you'll have one less load to worry about.

We just returned from museum-hopping in Chicago! We love the Field Museum, and it gave us the best pictures from our trip, which is why it gets a cameo in this post, but it didn't make the cut for our museum list. Sorry, Field.

Summer is such a great time for family road trips and exploration, both outdoors and indoors. There are hundreds of good museums scattered across the country, but not all are created equal. I've found the best museums for boys provide a hands-on, interactive experience. We really love children's museums and zoos, but as our boys get older, we are seeing them age out of those venues.

However, there are some museums we come to over and over again because of the way they captivate our kids. Out of sheer coincidence, these five museums are evenly spaced across the country, which shows two things: there is access to great exploring all over the United States, and our family has a hard time staying in one place!

If a family trip takes you within the vicinity of one of these museums this summer, I highly suggest a visit. You (and your boys) won't be disappointed.

1. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is built around a old turbine hall in the warehouse district of Portland, Oregon. Its six permanent exhibits include 3D printing, robotic arms, earth science and human growth and development. For an additional fee you can tour a U.S. Navy submarine. A room for younger kids includes fun water and sand features. We visit OMSI almost every summer and never tire of its light-filled spaces and hands-on activities.

2. Living in the Twin Cities, we are partial to the Science Museum of Minnesota. Compared to some of the other big-city museums, it is incredibly accessible, and filled with five floors of exploration. Permanent exhibits include a cell lab, the human body, the Mississippi River gallery, and dinosaurs and fossils. The rotating exhibits are always top-notch. In the summer, an outdoor area called the Big Backyard includes panning for gold and mini-putting.

3. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is the gold standard for all other science museums. Built in 1933, the gorgeous facility (and the largest of its kind in the country) houses more exhibits than you can see in one day. Permanent (and favorite features) include the Idea Factory, Science Storms, the toy-making lab where kids watch a robotic assembly line create a customized gyroscope, and the absolute favorite: a scale model of the Chicago and Seattle skylines, featuring 20-plus model trains. For an additional fee, kids can tour a German U-505 submarine or ride in a flight simulator.

4. Henry Ford not only created the Model T, he immortalized his legacy by building his own historic compound in Detroit, MI. While the indoor Henry Ford Museum is great, our favorite is the adjacent Greenfield Village. In the early 1900s, Ford began collecting relics that on one else wanted: old steam trains, roundhouses, and historic buildings such as George Washington Carver's slave hut and Abraham Lincoln's law office. Thanks to his connections, he even got his old pal Thomas Edison to relocate his entire Menlo Park laboratory. The result is an astounding 80-acre time capsule. What makes Greenfield Village so fun is not just the buildings, but what kids can do while they're there: ride in an authentic Model T, create a brass candlestick, watch an 1867 baseball game, dip candles under a Dutch windmill, and ride a 19th-century steam train around the entire village. Workers dressed in period clothing bring the entire experience to life.

5. While all the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. are worth a visit, the National Air and Space Museum is the shining star for kids. It contains two of aviation history's most famous planes: the 1903 Wright Flyer and Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. From the history of the Space Race to World War II aviation, the exhibits will keep boys captivated for hours. It's easy to see why this is the most visited museum in the country. And of all the museums listed in this post, this one has the best sticker price: free.

***

A note on cost: Paying for an entire family's admission can really add up. We take advantage of the reciprocal pass offered through our own science museum. Our annual pass not only allows us unlimited admission to the Science Museum of Minnesota, it gets us in to OMSI and the Museum of Science and Industry, as well as dozens of other museums and planetariums. If you have a science museum, natural history museum or planetarium in your area, you may want to consider looking at that option.

Okay, so what are your favorite boy-friendly museums? Any we should add to this list?

Around 1890, the word hobo appeared in the American lexicon somewhere in California. No one is quite sure were the term hobo comes from, but it might be a shorted version of the words homeword bound. Hobos weren’t vagrants or tramps. They were the country’s migratory workers, riding the rails in search of work.

Hobos usually carried all of their meager earthly possession in a knotted handkerchief called a bindle, which was then tied to staff. Another word for hobo is bindlestiff.

The number of hobos in the United States peaked during the Great Depression as more than 100,000 sought work along the rail line. It was a dangerous business, to travel illegally by train, avoiding the powerful wheels and the more powerful railroad "bulls", hired to kick off any non-paying passengers. Still, many were so desperate for work they were willing to take the risk. They established their own secret code used to mark fence posts and barns, indicating friendly farmers, vicious dogs or fresh water. They even had their own ethical code, with things like, "Help all runaway children, and encourage them to return home."

While we don't necessarily want our boys participating in the dangerous business of train-hopping, the idea behind a bindle for boys is to encourage exploration beyond their own backyard. Don’t let the washi tape and pretty handkerchief fool you. You don’t need any special equipment to make a bindle. Hobos weren't picky, so you shouldn't be either. An old dishrash or cloth napkin, a piece of fabric or pillow case, any of these will do. This isn’t meant to be Pinterest-worthy, and you shouldn't follow your kids around with a camera like I did, even though they look darn cute setting off into the woods. That defeats the purpose.

The bindle is meant to send a message. I have a friend whose mother made a bindle for each of her eight children every morning. She fastened it to a pole, stuck it in the yard, and sent her kids off to play. All day long. You can do the same. Encourage your boys to sling the food-laden stick over their shoulder and have an adventure.

The bindle can include whatever your choose. Even better, it can include whatever your son might choose: non-perishable food, a pocket knife, fresh water, a small notebook and pencil for woodsy sketches, or anything needed for a full day of exploration.

The point is to encourage boys to get out in nature, to get righteously grubby, to spend an entire day with nothing but a stick, a bindle, and, of course, a good healthy dose of imagination.

Two new books came into our hands recently. They have both captured the attention of my boys. The first, "What If: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions" by Randall Munroe, is an offshoot of his popular website. Readers post crazy questions, and as the subtitle states, he answers them with detailed, scientifically based answers. The format looks like this:

As you can see, the questions are all over the place: If everyone on the planet stayed away from each other for a couple of weeks, wouldn't the common cold be wiped out? How much Force power can Yoda output? Is there enough energy to move the entire current human population off-planet?

The answers are not only funny and engaging, they teach a lot about math and science along the way. Munroe is most famous for his webcomic xkcd, and his book is filled with funny stick-figure illustrations. If your boys are anything like mine, they will be inspired to come up with their own absurd questions and answers. I would recommend it for third grade on up.

The second book, "Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension" by comedian Matt Parker, explores and revisits complex math principles in a fun, accessible format. Parker asserts that math allows us to access logic beyond our own capabilities. And of course he wants to convince the reader that math is an invaluable piece of our everyday lives. Filled with illustrations, the book touches on hundreds of ideas, from how to slice a cube and build a computer, to how to tie your shoes mathematically.

This book is geared toward older teens and adults, but younger kids with an interest in math will find it extremely readable. It was a gift for my 13-year-old and he loves it.

Decades ago, street games were common in big cities. Kids congregated on city stoops and in the narrow alleyways, armed with whatever supplies they had on-hand: broom handles, tin cans, and often a bouncy pink rubber ball called a Spaldeen. The oversized rubber ball, developed during the Great Depression, was the center of most of these street games for almost 40 years.

The Spaldeen was discontinued in 1979 as children began to leave the streets and the games of their childhood. But there is good news. One, the Spaldeen is back and readily available. Two, these old-time street games are as fun and exciting as they were 30 years ago, and they make a great activity on a warm summer evening. Teach them to your boys and encourage them to gather their friends for some good old-fashioned fun. As they do, they’ll be walking in the footsteps of history. Famous athletes like Jackie Robinson and Yogi Berra cut their young chops on these very same games.

KICK THE CAN

My father-in-law taught this to all the grandkids at a family reunion last year. It has become a family favorite both inside the house and out. This game can be played with kids of all ages. The only equipment required is an empty tin can and a large open area, preferably a hard surface so the can is able to travel farther.

HOW TO PLAY: The group picks a kicker, who kicks the can as far as possible. When the can is air born, the kicker begins to counting to 100 while the other players run and hide. When the kicker spots someone, he calls out their name and both the hider and the kicker race toward the can. If the kicker reaches the can first, the hider goes to a designated “jail”. The kicker then kicks the can and the game resumes. If the hider reaches the can first, he goes free and the game begins again. Hiders can leave their hiding spot to free prisoners by kicking the can. The game is finished when everyone has been jailed.

PUNCHBALL

Punchball is essentially baseball played without a bat, pitcher, or catcher. The only equipment required is a bouncy ball like a Spaldeen, or a tennis ball if that is not available. Bases can be manhole covers, sticks, rocks, or any other elements found lying in the street.

HOW TO PLAY: The “batter” pitches to himself by throwing the ball up or bouncing it on the ground. He then punches the ball into the outfield using his fist. Thereafter, the game follows the rules of baseball, except there is no stealing or bunting allowed.

BUCK BUCK

A traditional form of “pile-on,” this game has been around for centuries. A painting by Pieter Brueghel from 1560 titled “Children’s Games” shows children playing Buck Buck, or Johny-on-a-Pony, as it is sometimes called.

HOW TO PLAY: A player either leans forward, his hands braced against a wall or against his thighs, with his head down. Another player runs and jumps on his back and, holding up one or more fingers, shouts, “Bucket buck, buckety buck/how many fingers do I hold up?” If the “buck” guesses the correct number, the player jumps off and the bender becomes the jumper.

In another variation, a line of benders bend over, holding the person in front by the waist. A group of jumpers tries to jump on the benders, each time asking how many fingers? If they guess incorrectly, another jumper is added until the benders collapse under the weight.

* * *

What favorite street games did you play as a kid? I wish I had known about these games as a child. However, some of my best memories were playing Ghost in the Graveyard in the open field behind our home.

"He was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well though--and loathed him." —Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"

There is no story that conjures up classic boyhood like “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain. From Tom’s fence-painting days to his triumphant entry into his own funeral, the story of Tom Sawyer includes every element of adventure, from running away to hunting for buried treasure to getting into scrapes with a murderer. There’s even innocent, boyhood love.

Every boy should feel the freedom of hunting up and down a riverbed, filling pockets full of snail shells while riverboats trawl the Mississippi in the background. But even if you live nowhere near that classic body of water, your boys can still find elements of a Tom Sawyer summer wherever you may be.

If you haven’t read “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” with your boys, start there. We listened to the audio version a few years back and loved it. The old timey language and Midwest dialect take some getting used it--I occasionally had to translate what was happening to my kids—but they became captivated. If the actual story is over their heads, we like the Illustrated Classics version, which features simplified language and pictures on ever page. (We often find these versions at thrift stores.)

Once your boys have a grasp of the story, they’re ready to concoct their own summer plan, Tom Sawyer style.

Wade in the water

First, head to the water. In the story, the churning waters of the muddy Mississippi are as alive as many of the characters. They are Tom’s gateway to freedom. The Mississippi was the highway of Tom’s day, and the riverboats were vessels of escape.

Tom and his friends head off down the Mississippi and stake claim on their own island. Boys can find that same sense of adventure on a pond, river, creek, or lake. Teach them how to canoe, kayak, and swim. Supply them with a pile of scrap lumber and let them build a floatable raft. Set them off with a fishing pole, a hook and line, or a net, and see what they come back with. Show them how to hunt for crawdads.

Discover an island

Okay, so it might be hard for boys to find an actual island, but send them out in the neighborhood in search of their own oasis. Every kid needs a secret place, a Terabithia of sorts, far from the prying eyes of adults who might try to civilize and clean it up. Encourage your boys to explore beyond your own backyard. Take them to state parks or campgrounds where they can search the natural world.

Adventure by night

Tom and his buddy Huck Finn are exploring a graveyard by night when they witness a horrifying incident: the murder of Dr. Robinson. This sets up the rest of the story, as Tom has to both witness against and escape the retribution of Injun Joe.

While graverobbing isn’t a pastime we want to encourage with our boys, there is something freeing about being out under an open night sky, and having a midnight adventure. Backyard camping, trampoline camping, midnight hikes with an adult, and owling can all simulate the late-night wanderings of Tom and Huck.

Fall in love…with spelunking

One of the memorable twists in the story is the adventure Tom and Becky Thatcher take into McDougal’s Cav . Tom, in a love-sick swagger, leads Becky through the cave only to get them hopelessly lost. After spending a few harrowing days in the cave, Tom is able to lead them out and the cave is sealed for safety.

If you live near caves, take a summer outing to go caving. The darkness of a cave is a welcome relief from the heat of summer, and there is something empowering about descending into the bowels of the earth. Of course, you can also learn from Tom and Becky’s experience and never venture into a cave without proper equipment and a solid know-how of where you’re going., while paying attention to rules for bat mating season.

Hunt for treasure

After helping Becky out of the cave, Tom and Huck become determined to find the buried treasure they believe Injun Joe has hidden somewhere around town. Huck Finn shadows Injun Joe, trying to nab the gold. After glimpsing Injun Joe in the cave, Tom concludes that the gold is hidden somewhere beyond the sealed-off entrance.

Geo-caching is the greatest form of a modern-day treasure hunt. But so is hunting for natural treasure--shells on a beach, owl pellets in the woods, agates along the shore of a lake. Look for arrowheads and petrified wood or fossils.

Renting a metal detector and hunting through the woods or along a riverbed can bring up all sorts of surprises. Going to a junkyard can be a treasure hunt, or even your local thriftstore. Send boys into the backyard and see what treasures they can find.

Get rich

In a fulfillment of every boy’s dream, Tom and Huck end up with a coffer full of gold, making the duet of orphans instantly rich. The money is invested for their future and Tom and Huck settle in with their charges, at least for the time being.

Beyond hunting for that elusive gold, allow boys to act out some of their summer money-making schemes. Give them license to set up a lemonade stand, distribute flyers to mow the lawn, or sell vegetables door-to-door. Allow them to run their own garage sale or sell old toys on eBay. Boys love having a little pocket change, and the reward is all the sweeter when they’ve sweated to earn it themselves.

Lastly, of course, you have to complete the summer the way the story begins. Hand your son a paintbrush, a bucket of whitewash, and point him in the direction of the nearest picket fence. Right there, at that line between boyhood and adulthood, is where all adventures begin.

Well, not exactly, but we are beginning to see the first shadows of facial hair, and it's got me thinking about that first shave.

While shaving may be new to my son, it turns out it's been around a long time. As early as 3000 BC soldiers would pluck hairs using two clam shells as tweezers. Alexander the Great encouraged his shoulders to shave so their hair couldn't be pulled and twisted in combat. The word barbarian comes from the image of a man who was hairy and unshaven, basically unbarbered.

The Egyptians were famously enamored with shaving their faces, heads, and bodies, and were among the first found to make a habit of daily shaving. Before razor blades came along, early shavers used rocks, tools, or pumice stones to simply rub the hair off. (Ouch!)

Shaving has come a long way. In fact, the choices for that first shave seem almost overwhelming. Yet the rite of passage seems monumental, like a baby's first haircut, so you want to think through it and get it right the first time.

First off, have your son watch Dad shave several times. If there isn't a shaving male in your house, have him watch a few YouTube clips to get an idea of the process.

Next, select a razor. There are two main types: manual and electric. (There are also safety razors, which have made a big comeback on the shaving scene, but for purposes of simplification, we'll stick with the two above.)

Electric may seem like the easiest way to go at first, as there is little risk of getting nicked. However, electric razors have a high upfront cost and don't give the closest shave. If you have one on-hand, you could consider having your son try it out.

However, at some point, all boys should learn to shave with a manual razor. It's like learning to drive a stick shift—he may not use the skill on a daily basis, but it's a good one to know.

Plus, the first shave will seem more significant if your son gets to lather his face in cream and sing barbershop tunes in front of the mirror like his favorite Gillette commercial.

1. First, have him moisten his face with warm water or a warm, damp towel to soften the facial hairs and open up pores.

2. Have him apply a shaving cream or gel. If he has sensitive skin, find a cream that is hypo-allergenic.

3. Using a razor with a sharp, new blade (dull will increase the risk of cuts or nicks), have him follow his facial hair grain. For most males, facial hair grows down the face. Show him how to make a pass with light, even strokes, not pressing down too hard. Two or three light passes is better than one hard stroke, which could lead to cuts. Have him rinse the blade under water every two to three strokes.

4. Keep a styptic pencil on-hand for the inevitable nicks. (They can be found in the drugstore near the shaving supplies.) Dipped in water, the white alum tip can be touched to the cut to stop bleeding, and it also reduces risk of infection. Bits of toilet paper can also help stop the bleeding.

5. Rinse the face with warm water. Apply a gentle after-shave, and he's good to go. Make sure he replaces his razor often, or, if he's using an electric, cleans and oils the blades on a regular basis.

If your son is like mine, he won't need to shave every day, and those first shaves may just be a pass over the upper lip. But encouragement from his parents will help your son remember that shaving should be part of his daily or weekly hygiene routine. After all, he's on his way to becoming a man, not a barbarian.

In the 1950s, the Italian author Italo Calvino wrote a delightful novel called "The Baron in the Trees." It is little-known in the United States, but well-worth reading for the sheer delight of the concept.

Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo is a young boy fed up with his life in the cloistered walls of his Italian villa, where he must get tutored by the ancient Abbe and dine on the horrifying creations of his sister. One day, while facing a dinner plate filled with snails, he abandons his meal, climbs a tree, and declares that he will never come down again.

He stays true to his word. Removed from his family and his neighbors, he makes a life among the trees, snatching fruit with the local band of ruffians, befriending the peasants who work the fields, and falling in love with the tricky and headstrong Victorio.

The book is funny and quirky and completely original, but it is one we can all relate to. Who wouldn't want to spend their entire existence off the ground? Johann Wyss was on to something when he wrote "Swiss Family Robinson." To live, perched among the branches, is a child's greatest dream.

Climbing trees is one of the great pleasures of boyhood. It is the ultimate test of freedom and daring. In a tree, boys are untouchable. They are one with the birds. They can nearly scrape the moon, hidden in a cathedral of leaves. Trees are a child's domain, nature's first jungle gym.

A tree can be a fort, a lookout point, an escape, and a challenge. A child has to think where to place his feet and hands. He has to test his weight on a flimsy branch to see if it's going to bend under pressure. There is always the risk of falling, which is precisely what makes it so fun.

Last week my son declared that he wanted to spend an entire day in a tree. I was in the middle of reading "The Baron in the Trees" and I encouraged him to try it. He could haul up food and books and have a treetop adventure. I can't wait to see if he follows through on his plan.

Do you encourage your boys to climb trees? Do you have a good backyard or neighborhood tree for climbing? What's your own favorite tree-climbing memory from childhood?

Boys and books. We all want our boys to be readers. A solid reader will do better long-term in school. He will have stronger writing and communication skills. Plus, reading has fringe benefits, like increasing empathy. Most parents want their boys to read out of sheer love for the written word. Nothing comes close to getting lost in a good story.

But where the rubber meets the road, some boys just aren't interested in reading. It's tedious for them or they are easily bored. It is a challenge for them to sit long enough to concentrate. They would rather be shooting hoops or playing video games.

Don't give up. Like teaching them to ride a bike, or love steamed broccoli, you just need to keep at it. Here's how:

Number one, come at your boys from all sides. I'm talking about an absolute deluge. If you look at storytelling in the broadest sense of the word, then you're going to get good literature into the mind of your son in every way possible. Parents set up nightly reading routines when their children are small, but what about when they're older? Kids love a good story. Pick a favorite book and read it out loud to your boys, over breakfast, at dinner, on long car trips, and at night in bed. Share the experience with them.

Check out audio books from the library (free!), or invest in a monthly subscription to something like Audible. Most families spend a lot of time in the car. These are minutes that could be spent listening to good stories. I use audio books to introduce my boys to books they might not pick up on their own, often classics they've termed "boring." An audio book, well read, is as gripping as live theater. We've worked our way through dozens of books. Not only that, but my boys who are strong auditory learners love digesting books this way.

Surround your boys with physical books. Put a bookshelf in his room and fill it over time. Buy books for your son's birthday, and for holidays. Make books a treat. Take advantage of the (free!) public library. Go often. Get all kinds of books, in all kinds of subjects. A few of my boys steer toward nonfiction and how-to manuals. Another really likes graphic novels. We come home with stacks and stacks of books.

Make time for reading. If the choice is between a book or the TV, the TV is going to win every time. Our brains will always travel the path of least resistance. Make a time each day that is device-free. Give boys time and space to read before bed. Develop incentives. I allow my boys to see a movie adaptation only after they've read the book. I should mention here that parents need to set the example. Kids note, even peripherally, what their parents are doing. So read books yourself, and let your kids see you reading. Share what you're learning. Teach your kids that reading is part of the family culture.

Don't force it. Although teachers are well-intentioned, I'm not a fan of daily reading logs in school, because it makes reading look like another task, something to get done. Likewise, I really dislike reading levels. The children's author Beatrix Potter learned to read by muddling her way through Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe." So take reading levels with a grain of salt. Allow your boys to read above and below their level, and don't force them to read certain books. I am putting new books into the hands of my kids all the time. Some they take, others they put aside. I also use the bait method. I'll read the first few chapters aloud, and my curious boys will pick it up and read the rest on their own.

Don't give up. I love books. Our house is swimming in good books. So naturally I assumed that my kids would all be readers like me. They are not. None of them sit in a corner, or at the table or up in a tree reading for hours on end, the way I did as a child. But they all love stories. We talk a lot about story. They have found their own niches and passions when it comes to literature, and when they dive in, they dive deep. For some that didn't come until they were much older. For others the interest waxes and wanes, but I make books a part of our everyday diet. If you do that, you will grow a boy who reads, and loves it.

Welcome to Raise the Boys, a new site dedicated to raising creative, kind, courageous, and competent boys. I'm Tiffany Gee Lewis, journalist and mother of four boys. Sign up to receive a daily update. Thanks for visiting!

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